Apr. 11, 2013 — A team of archaeologists from the University of Southampton
have used the latest in digital imaging technology to record and analyse
carvings on the Easter Island statue Hoa
Hakananai'a.
James Miles, Hembo Pagi and Dr Graeme Earl from the
Archaeological Computing Research Group at the University
of Southampton teamed up with
archaeologist and editor of British Archaeology Mike Pitts to examine the
statue at the Wellcome Trust Gallery in the British
Museum , London
Dr Earl explains: "The Hoa Hakananai'a statue has
rarely been studied at first hand by archaeologists, but developments in
digital imaging technology have now allowed us to examine it in unprecedented
detail."
Hoa Hakananai'a was brought to England Island is home to around 1,000 similar statues, but Hoa
Hakananai'a is of particular interest because of the intricate carvings on its
back.
It is popularly believed that around AD1600 the Easter
Islanders faced an ecological crisis and stopped worshipping their iconic
statues. The Rapa Nui , as they are known, turned
instead to a new birdman religion, or cult. This included a ritual based around
collecting the first egg of migrating terns from a nearby islet, Motu Nui. The
'winner', whose representative swam to the islet and then back with the egg,
was afforded sacred status for a year.
Hoa Hakananai'a survived this shift in religious beliefs
by being placed in a stone hut and covered in carved 'petroglyphs', or rock
engravings, depicting motifs from the birdman cult. As such, it may be
representative of the transition from the cult of statues to the cult of the
birdman.
The team from the University of Southampton examined Hoa
Hakananai'a using two different techniques: Photogrammetric Modelling; which
involved taking hundreds of photos from different angles to produce a fully
textured computer model of the statue, capable of being rotated in 360 degrees;
and Reflectance Transformation Imaging; a process which allows a virtual light
source to be moved across the surface of a digital image of the statue, using
the difference between light and shadow to highlight never-seen-before details.
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